Serpentine drive belts are becoming increasingly durable due to the use of Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) materials. As a result, a historically reliable indicator of belt wear, cracking, occurs less frequently although belts continue to wear over time. One problem that exists due to the use of these advanced materials is that pre-failure wear detection is increasingly difficult to quantify. In other words, serpentine drive belts made of EPDM materials are commonly only diagnosed as excessively worn after a complete failure of the belt.
Recent advances to deal with the above-identified problem require a physical tool that is contacted with a belt being measured. Examples of such tools are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,946,047 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0307221 both to Smith et al., each of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These solutions rely on physical contact between the measurement tool and the belt being measured.
It would be useful to develop a belt measurement solution that does not rely on physical contact between a tool and the belt being measured, and which can quickly and effectively identify belt wear.